Alice Goes Mad (Or so her Parents Think)
by Cececat
Summary: Alice's mother hears her talking to their cats about wonderland and thinks Alice is insane. Alice is sent to an asylum and meets Johanna (From 'Sweeney Todd'). It is from Alice's point of view. WARNING: It won't make much sense if you don't know the story of 'Sweeney Todd" or have not seen the musical or musical movie. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

"My dearest kittens! You would have truly loved my dream last night! I dreamed I was in a magical place, called wonderland," I told my cats Lily and Snowflake as we sat on the couch in the sitting room. Snowflake meowed at me loudly. "Yes, I know it sounds silly," I laughed, "but wonderland is amazing. There is a cat just like you two who grins. Imagine that, a cat who grins! There is also a hat-maker who is completely mad and is at a never-ending tea party with an equally mad hare." I suddenly heard someone clear her throat. I turned around and saw my mother standing at the doorway to the sitting room. "Were you talking to the cats?" mother said in horror. I stared at her "what is wrong with that?" I asked cheerfully. She shook her head "oh, Alice. Cats can't understand English. Or any civilized language for that matter. No more talking to them." She walked out of the room with her arms crossed. I sighed. Grownups never understand anything… The next evening I was quietly playing with Lily when I heard hushed voices coming from the sitting room. I tiptoed over to the door of the sitting room and listened to what the people were saying. I heard my mother's voice, my father's voice, and a man's voice I did not recognize. Mother and father were explaining my conversation with the cats and what I had said about wonderland. The man that I did not know said that he would like to speak with me about my dreams. I was so excited that finally somebody might understand! I opened the door and saw that mother and father were sitting on the couch. A man in an expensive looking suit with wild eyes was pacing back and forth. They all suddenly looked at me in shock. The man stopped pacing. My mother faked a smile "Alice, darling, this man is here to speak with you about your, um, dreams. He is named Mr. Fogg," She said gently. I grinned politely. "What do you see in these dreams?" Mr. Fogg questioned. "I see many things. Such as a grinning cat, soldiers made of cards, and many talking animals!" I said happily. "Is it real, Alice?" he asked. I gave him an odd look "of course it is real!" I shouted with annoyance. Mr. Fogg looked at my parents and said in a sad, sad voice "She really needs help." A few seconds later I was hit on the head by something heavy and everything went black… 


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up in a dimly lit room. I could hear people mumbling and shrieking. I heard a girl's voice singing the words "Greenfinch and linnet bird" over and over again. "Where am I?" I mumbled. "You are in Fogg's Asylum, where lunatics like you belong, " said a voice behind me. I spun around to see Mr. Fogg standing at the doorway. As I began to walk toward him he quickly left the room and locked the door behind him. I began screaming wildly. "Be quiet, please." Said the voice that had been singing. I stopped screaming ad starred at her. It was a girl of about 16, with long blonde ringlets. She looked completely sane. She was wearing a dirty white nightgown, like everyone else in the room. I noticed I was wearing one, too. "Why are you here? You look like you are completely sane," I said to the girl. She looked at me solemnly. "My name is Johanna. I'm only here because I refused to marry a man named Judge Turpin. This is his way of punishing we for refusing to marry him. I was raised as his daughter, even though we are in no way related. All my life I have been locked in my room, and now I am locked up here," she said, with tears in her eyes. "I have heard of him," I whispered. "I am in love with a young sailor named Antony. He is kind and wishes to marry me. That is the other reason they locked me here. I was to secretly marry Antony two Sundays ago. That was when I was sent here," she said tearfully. I did not have any idea what to do. I would probably be here for a very long time. Over the next days I befriended Johanna. We would have both been completely miserable without someone to talk to in this dreadful place. We kept each other from going mad. I did not want to end up like the people around us. A week after I first got there, Mr. Fogg came into the room we were in. Behind him was young man with a pair of scissors. He looked like a wigmaker. As soon as she saw him, her eyes widened in shock. "Antony?" she cried. "Let the nice man cut your hair and you get a sweet!" Mr. Fogg said. "Johanna, my darling!" said the young man. "What is going on?" Mr. Fogg whispered in fear. Antony pulled a pistol out of his coat pocket and pointed it at Mr. Fogg. "I just can't bring myself to shoot!" Antony shouted. I grabbed the pistol from him and shot Mr. Fogg right in the chest. "Alice! Oh my God!" said Johanna in shock. Antony grabbed Johanna's hand, Johanna grabbed my hand, and we ran as fast as we could. 


	3. Chapter 3

I think we left the door open on our way out because I could hear the lunatics screaming "city on fire! City on fire! It's the end of the world, yes! City on fire!" We ran faster until we found our way to a building of Fleet Street. It had a big sign that said 'Todd's Barber Shop". I looked at Johanna and asked "Why are we here?" Antony stared at me. "Who is that little girl?" he questioned. Johanna sighed, "She is a _completely sane_ 7 year old named Alice. I thought we could raise her as our daughter once we are married," Johanna proclaimed. "Now I have both a wife _and_ a daughter to look after," said Antony with much annoyance. "Why are we here?" I repeated. "This is where Antony's friend lives. His name is Mr. Todd. He will help us." Suddenly a older woman walked out of the shop. She jumped when she saw us. "Johanna? Antony? And who is this?" she said in a kind, motherly way. "I'm Alice," I said with a curtsey. Even living in a madhouse for a few weeks could not make me forget my manners. "Mrs. Lovett! How good it is to see you. Antony has told me much about you and Mr. Todd!" said Johanna sweetly. Mrs. Lovett led us into the barber's shop. I sat down on a trunk in the corner of the room, while Antony sat in the barber's chair with Johanna on his lap. Mrs. Lovett stood by the door. "Where is Mr. Todd?" asked Johanna. "He is, uh, downstairs I think," muttered Mrs. Lovett. Suddenly, Mrs. Lovett frowned. "I have a secret I need to tell you three!" she whispered. "What do you need to tell us?" asked Antony. Mrs. Lovett sighed "There was a barber and his wife, and they had a little daughter. A little blonde angel of a daughter she was. There was this judge you see. He wanted the barber's wife like mad. He transported the barber to Australia for life, but Lucy was a good girl and stayed in her room. She refused to leave. Until Beadle calls on her all polite, poor thing! He says that the judge wants to give Lucy help, you know, with paying off debts and such. Of course when she gets to the judge's house there having a fancy dress ball, all in masks. Poor thing was terrified. She looks for the judge. She drinks some wine. The judge is there, but poor Lucy does no realize until-" she stared at me "it is not a story for a child to hear," she saw the offended look on my face and said "fine. I will finish the story. So the judge he, uh, he hurts her in a way _children Alice's age should not know of. _When she manages to escape she runs to the apothecary and buys arsenic. She comes home and tells me what happened. She swears that she will kill herself with the poison. I warn her not to, but she does not listen. With tears in her pretty blue eyes she takes the poison. She begins to scream and flail wildly. The poison did not kill her. It drove her mad. She ran away and was reduced to begging. So poor little baby Johanna became the ward of Judge Turpin. Yes, you are the daughter of that mad beggar. What became of your father you ask? Well, he will be very happy to see you. He has changed his name from Benjamin Barker to Sweeney Todd," once Mrs. Lovett had finished her story, she hugged a now sobbing Johanna. "It's ok, sweetheart. At least you can see your father again," said Antony gently. We all jumped when an older man stormed through the door. He had wild hair that was black with one white stripe. He had sunken in eyes and wore a white shirt. He smiled joyfully when he saw Johanna.


	4. Chapter 4

Johanna stopped crying and looked terrified. "You are my Father?" she whispered. Mr. Todd walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. "Yes, I am your father and you need my permission to get married. Luckily for you, I approve of your future husband. I hope you wish to live with me. Will you and your husband live here?" said Mr. Todd. "We will live here, along with my adopted daughter Alice," decided Johanna. She was smiling cheerfully again. "Thank you for this, you are all very kind," I said happily. Mrs. Lovett showed me to a small room with only a bed and a small table. "You can live here. Your, um, 'parents' are in the room next to this one," She said cheerfully. "Thank you Mrs. Lovett" I said. "Call me Aunt Nellie" Mrs. Lovett replied, grinning. I smiled back. I finally have a caring family I thought. "Oh, don't call Mr. Todd Grandfather. He won't think of you as a granddaughter for a long time," Mrs. Lovett added. She walked down the hall, leaving me alone in my room. I did not realize how tired I was until then. I closed the door to my room, and then lay down on my bed, not bothering to put on a nightdress. I fell asleep right away. I had another one of my dreams. This time I was at the tea party with the hatter and the hare. I woke up halfway through a conversation with the hatter. I sat up and realized Aunt Nellie was knocking on the door to my room. "Alice! Get up! You need to eat your breakfast," she shouted through the door. I looked around the room. There was a blue dress lying on the table I had not noticed before. I changed out of my nightgown and into the blue dress. Strangely, it fit perfectly. I opened the door to see Aunt Nellie, Antony, Johanna, a young boy I did not recognize, and Mr. Todd. "You woke up late," said Mr. Todd. He sounded very annoyed. "We need to buy a bridal dress for Johanna and a flower girl dress for you to wear at the wedding next weekend," explained Aunt Nellie. Seeing my confused expression, the young boy said "I'm Toby. I help out in Mrs. Lovett's pie shop." I smiled at him. We walked to a shop down the street from my new house. The shop was full of very formal clothes. The dresses were made of expensive looking fabrics. A woman in a stylish dark blue bustle dress walked through a door in the back of the shop. She looked at us through a pair of round eyeglasses and shouted "Nellie! How have you been? I have not seen you in ages even though you are my sister. Do you like that beaded red evening gown I made you?" She practically shouted. "I have been quite well, Laura. That evening gown fits wonderfully. This is Mr. Todd, his daughter Johanna, Johanna's fiancé Antony, their adopted daughter Alice, and my adopted son Toby," replied Aunt Nellie. "So Miss Johanna will be needing a wedding gown I assume?" said Laura cheerfully. Aunt Nellie from Johanna to me to Laura and then said, "Antony needs a suit, Johanna needs a bridal dress, and Alice needs a flower girl dress," Laura looked at Johanna and said, "Let's start with the most important dress of all." The next few hours were very boring for me. I sat in the corner of the shop with Toby and Mr. Todd and watched Johanna try on all different dresses. There was the bright white fishtail bustle gown with pink bows; there was the silk off-white dress with an overskirt made of lavender lace. After a while I noticed that Mr. Todd was fidgeting with a small silver object. "What is in Mr. Todd's hand?" I asked Toby quietly. "That is one of his razors. He calls them his friends. He is a barber, so it makes some sense," Toby explained. "The odd thing is that most people who go into his shop don't leave through the front door," he added. "Maybe they never leave," I muttered under my breath. "What was that?" he asked. "Nothing," I replied. Mr. Todd seems less and less nice I thought. Johanna stopped crying and looked terrified. "You are my Father?" she whispered. Mr. Todd walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. "Yes, I am your father and you need my permission to get married. Luckily for you, I approve of your future husband. I hope you wish to live with me. Will you and your husband live here?" said Mr. Todd. "We will live here, along with my adopted daughter Alice," decided Johanna. She was smiling cheerfully again. "Thank you for this, you are all very kind," I said happily. Mrs. Lovett showed me to a small room with only a bed and a small table. "You can live here. Your, um, 'parents' are in the room next to this one," She said cheerfully. "Thank you Mrs. Lovett" I said. "Call me Aunt Nellie" Mrs. Lovett replied, grinning. I smiled back. I finally have a caring family I thought. "Oh, don't call Mr. Todd Grandfather. He won't think of you as a granddaughter for a long time," Mrs. Lovett added. She walked down the hall, leaving me alone in my room. I did not realize how tired I was until then. I closed the door to my room, and then lay down on my bed, not bothering to put on a nightdress. I fell asleep right away. I had another one of my dreams. This time I was at the tea party with the hatter and the hare. I woke up halfway through a conversation with the hatter. I sat up and realized Aunt Nellie was knocking on the door to my room. "Alice! Get up! You need to eat your breakfast," she shouted through the door. I looked around the room. There was a blue dress lying on the table I had not noticed before. I changed out of my nightgown and into the blue dress. Strangely, it fit perfectly. I opened the door to see Aunt Nellie, Antony, Johanna, a young boy I did not recognize, and Mr. Todd. "You woke up late," said Mr. Todd. He sounded very annoyed. "We need to buy a bridal dress for Johanna and a flower girl dress for you to wear at the wedding next weekend," explained Aunt Nellie. Seeing my confused expression, the young boy said "I'm Toby. I help out in Mrs. Lovett's pie shop." I smiled at him. We walked to a shop down the street from my new house. The shop was full of very formal clothes. The dresses were made of expensive looking fabrics. A woman in a stylish dark blue bustle dress walked through a door in the back of the shop. She looked at us through a pair of round eyeglasses and shouted "Nellie! How have you been? I have not seen you in ages even though you are my sister. Do you like that beaded red evening gown I made you?" She practically shouted. "I have been quite well, Laura. That evening gown fits wonderfully. This is Mr. Todd, his daughter Johanna, Johanna's fiancé Antony, their adopted daughter Alice, and my adopted son Toby," replied Aunt Nellie. "So Miss Johanna will be needing a wedding gown I assume?" said Laura cheerfully. Aunt Nellie from Johanna to me to Laura and then said, "Antony needs a suit, Johanna needs a bridal dress, and Alice needs a flower girl dress," Laura looked at Johanna and said, "Let's start with the most important dress of all." The next few hours were very boring for me. I sat in the corner of the shop with Toby and Mr. Todd and watched Johanna try on all different dresses. There was the bright white fishtail bustle gown with pink bows; there was the silk off-white dress with an overskirt made of lavender lace. After a while I noticed that Mr. Todd was fidgeting with a small silver object. "What is in Mr. Todd's hand?" I asked Toby quietly. "That is one of his razors. He calls them his friends. He is a barber, so it makes some sense," Toby explained. "The odd thing is that most people who go into his shop don't leave through the front door," he added. "Maybe they never leave," I muttered under my breath. "What was that?" he asked. "Nothing," I replied. Mr. Todd seems less and less nice I thought. 


	5. Chapter 5

A week later I found myself standing in a small room wearing a pink dress that matched the trim on the wedding dress I was helping Johanna into. Aunt Nellie was watching from the doorway. "You both look beautiful. I'm so glad you chose that shade of pink, Johanna, it looks lovely on the two of you," she said. I giggled with excitement. I was so happy to be part of such a wonderful 'family'. A few minutes later I was walking through the small chapel behind Johanna and Mr. Todd, tossing white rose petals on the floor. Antony was waiting by the altar grinning just like the cat in my dreams. Once Mr. Todd and Johanna got to the altar, I sat down on a nearby bench (just like Aunt Nellie told me to). Then Mr. Todd sat next to me. He stared at Johanna and Antony solemnly as they said their vows. Aunt Nellie was sobbing hysterically. I had never actually thought people cried at weddings until then. I almost burst out laughing, but I managed to hold myself together. Once the wedding vows were over Johanna threw her bouquet of white roses behind her and Aunt Nellie managed to catch it. Aunt Nellie giggled and said "I guess even an old widow like me might get married." We all began to laugh. Actually, everyone but Mr. Todd laughed. We left the church and happily walked home. It was a beautiful day and thankfully the chapel was very close to our house so we did not mind having to walk home.

When we got home Aunt Nellie poured us each a 'nice big tot of gin'. "To the newlyweds, Johanna and Antony!" she shouted holding the bottle in the air. "Johanna and Antony" we echoed. "Are we really allowed to drink this?" I carefully asked Johanna. "No, you and Toby should not drink gin. If I was your mother-" "you are my mother now, so can I call you Mum? And can I call Antony Dad?" I interrupted. "Fine," Johanna (I mean Mum) said with a smile on her face.

Our family then lived happily for many years…


End file.
